KNOWLEDGE 



[Oct. 2, 1885. 



ROPE RAILWAY AT GENOA.* 



THE construction of a rope railway on the Agudio 

 system, at Genoa, from Balzaneto to the Madona 

 della Guardia, has been sanctioned by the Minister of 

 Public Works. One of the most important features in 

 this scheme, and in which it differs from the line now in 

 operation, on the Agudio plan, from Turin to the 

 Supur-;i, i> tliiit no stationary engine wiU be re- 

 <juireil. ii> Mr. A_rudio, the engineer, intends utilising 

 the power .^f tiie same h.comotive that will be em- 

 ployed for bringing the train from iJal/.uueto to the 

 foot of the incline to the S.iini ,,arv, a vertical height 

 of 700 metres (2,296 feet). 'I'liis pow. r ^^illbe trans- 

 mitted, as is the case witl, tlie .Sui-.-rga line, by 

 an endless wire rope, driven at a high" sliced, to a 

 .specially-constructed apparatus, or " locomotore," which 

 receives the energy thus conveyed to it, and utilises it 

 for the direct haulage of the train. In this way, one of 

 the principal drawbacks in the application of this system 

 will bo avoided, as the traffic on such lines is very 

 variable, and the expense of keeping a stationary engine 

 of at least 2^)0 horse-power forms a serious item in the 

 working expenses, and especially so on week-days or 

 during the winter months, when the traffic must be small. 

 The locomotive, which will weigh about twenty-six tons, 

 will, after having brought the train from Genoa to the 

 foot of the incline, be disconnected, and taken on to a 

 siding, where, by a suitable arrangement, it will be lifted 

 off the rails, and its driving-wheels will, bear on and be 

 supported by other wheels revolving in fixed bearinj-s 

 placed below the level of the rails. The motion of tlie 

 driving-wheels of the engine will be thus conuuunicat.d 

 to the wheels below, which, being connected by suitable 

 gearing with the pullies for driving the rope, will thus 

 transmit the energy developed by the locomotive to the 

 " locomotore," or driving-car attached to the train, and 

 use it for hauling \ip the train. 



Under these conditions, the locomotive will, whilst 

 working as a fixed engine, no longer have a large propor- 

 tion of its power absorbed in drawing its own dead 

 weight, and, therefore, if only 150 horse-power are 

 utilised whilst di-awing the train, consisting of three 

 passenger carriages, containing 150 persons, its useful 

 power will easily be increased to 250 horse-power when it 

 uo longer has a dead weight of twenty-six tons to drag. 



L I YE-B URI AL. 



Bv Dr. W. CiREAN. 



THE origin of sacrifice, human and otherwise, is lost 

 in the dim obscurity of the past. When first we 

 liear of it in connection with the sacrificial acts of Cain 

 and Abel it is spoken of as a familiar thing, a matter of 

 course, and its previous enactment or existence is taken 

 for granted. It was subsequently practised as a part of 

 the ceremonial observance or law of the Jews, and other 

 primitive or pagan worships, and it is now, as every one 

 knows, the mainstay and corner-stone of the Greek, 

 Roman, and other Christian denominations or rituals. 

 That human beings were formerly s.crifiofd to appea.-^e 

 theangerof some offended god, or rLMi-w ■ ;. li 1" , ,-. a 

 leprosy, small-pox, epilepsy, &c., i- ■ .' 

 They were also sacrificed for the imri ' : i, 



ravages of the plague, enabling tlirir \. ::i' ~ i- ,■:,■-- 



come their enemies in battle, and bring back fertility to 

 their exhausted fields or flocks.* It would not, indeed, be 

 easy to define the conditions under which they were not 

 resorted to at one time or another by different tribes or 

 peoples, and the whole subject is learnedly discussed in the 

 " Victimse Humanre " of Jacob Gensius, of Groninghen, 

 to which I am indebted for some of the illustrations 

 recorded below. It is certain from this and other 

 sources that the enforced or voluntary live-burial of 

 human beings formed no inconsiderable part of these 

 cruel rites. 



That interruption to the true eourse of conjugal love 

 that is caused by the death of ilie liusbainl was probably 

 the first cause of these immolations. The bereaved wife 

 could not or would not survive In r liusbaml. The family 

 crone or the family priest was at hand to encourage her 

 in the practice of this laudable vow or wish ; and 

 Pomponius Mela expressly tells ns that the wives of the 

 polygamous Scythians contended amongst themselves as 

 to which of them sliould first bo buried along with her 

 lord and master. Herodotus and Lucian are equally 

 explicit in their ascription of a similar spirit of conten- 

 tion to the wives of the Thraciaus and Thrausians ; and 

 it is now generally understood that the original idea of 

 sate was simply that of sending a favourite wife to keep 

 company with her husband r.fter death. When the 

 ancient Sc}-tliians buried a king — says Mr. Wheelerf — 

 they strangled one of his concubines and buried her with 

 him, tocf-ether with his cup-bearer, groom, Ac. Amongst 

 the Thracians there existed a s'tiU more significant 

 custom. ]']verv Thracian had several wives, and when- 

 t.\-er a man died a sharp contest ensued between his 

 wives as to which of them he loved the bast. She who 

 by her vows or wailings enlisted the largest amount of 

 sympathy or support from the assembled crowd of conr- 

 tiers won the coveted prize, and marched exultingly to 

 her horrid doom. 



Peter Martyr — w In i ]< f\ sj-eeial opportunities of 

 knowing the faets i I' : -. il : 1 1 a ■ ancient Americans 



buried the livinL; hal. : •'' jra.ve with its dead 



mother; and Saxo ( ; ra' .'a ,! i a , informs us that an 

 acquaintance of his, one Asmuudus, had himself shut np 

 in the tomb that covered the remains of his friend Avitus. 

 Similar stories are told by travellers of the struggles that 

 took place for this privilege among the retainers of 

 certain African kings. The main incident of the play of 

 "The Illustrious Stranger" turns upon an episode of 

 this kind ; audit i.s, I fear, ]iretty eertain that similar 

 scenes may still be witnessed at tin' Court of Dahomey 

 and elsewhere in the inleiaoi- ,1 tlait il.a'k continent. 

 Mai 



ad pr 



h>.st several 



' Another and, I believe, an erroneous motive lias been assigned 

 by Mr. John Morley for the employment of this pnictice among 

 savages. Alluding to the treatm'^rt . f ^;.- <,..,r...-.i Xorthcote by 

 Lord .Salisbury, he is reported ill t a I -^ ' '\ 14th last, to 



old people had lived long enough, ■ a iclicacy not 



to recognise this fact themselvc>. , a , .ike a choice 



between strangulation and being buri> 4 alive, tlieii, witliout further 

 ceremonv, the tribe took the matter into their own h.ands " and 

 buried their recalcitrant old kinsfolk alive. Thev did no such thing, 

 Mr. Jlorlpy. They were not such fools as yr,„ take them to be, and 



^" -!'. a'.M v\".a 'f,' J^-oa ri^-aa''-'- '^'' ■■".' ' "iaal - savag "of 



' :• a - I ; . ..,.:,,•■ ■ :,■■;,■ i , ■ Hot SUrO that 



